Entropy
by Angeldream05
Summary: It has been a while since he last stepped foot in the lab. It looked like nothing had changed but he knew everything was different. His weird kind of family wasn't there anymore. Oneshot post s5 finale.


**This is the "bonus" chapter that I first wrote and then removed from my oneshot series "Word after Word". This was supposed to be chapter 5, the word was suggested by CrisTag_78 on twitter. But it ended up being too different from the rest of the other chapters and I thought it was better if it became a little oneshot of its own. Hope you like it!**

**Set in present time, a few months after the s5 finale.**

**Thanks to my amazing beta Shin/Bonesbird! Bones does not belong to me and this is just for fun, mine and I hope the readers' too! Enjoy!**

**B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&BB&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B**

**Entropy**

He walked quietly into the lab. It has been a while since he stepped foot in it. Three months, give or take? At a first glance, it looked like nothing had changed, although he had expected it to be something like a graveyard. It was not, people were walking around with metal gurneys and trays just like every other time he had been there. But he knew that a lot was different since the last time. A lot had changed.

He knew it as a fact and it could feel it in the air. Especially as he approached the forensic platform. It was silent, without the usual buzzing and chattering. Only one person was on it, he was holding a sternum in front of his face and analyzing it very carefully. He walked through the sliding glass doors, and every time he did that he had to laugh a little as he remembered Agent Booth shooting his way through them when they were locked in. At the small noise of the doors closing again, Dr. Clark Edison looked up from the sternum to meet his eyes and waved a little. He waved back, but he didn't go on the platform, he knew how much Clark hated to be disturbed when he was working. He had the feeling that the only one who was enjoying the current situation had to be Clark, just working, no dramas, no interruptions of any kind.

As he passed by the platform he looked up once again at Clark and the skeleton in front of him. Clean bones, no particular smell… definitely not a murder victim. He noticed a plastic box behind Clark. Of course, it had to be one of the thousands old unidentified skeletons from Limbo. He had always liked that name, it was appropriate. Thousands of lost souls waiting down there to be noticed and saved from the oblivion. There was no more appropriate name. He knew that Dr. Brennan didn't like it though, she preferred to use the term "bone storage". He thought that "Limbo" made it more personal and respectful to those lost souls. Without permission, the variant "soul storage" popped in his mind and made him chuckle. No, "Limbo" was fine.

He moved away from the platform and headed to the darkest and quietest area in the lab. It was the middle of the afternoon but all the neon lights in the lab were on. What a waste, he thought. Almost all of them, of course. He was walking towards the few rooms that were not lightened up. The first one was Dr. Brennan's office. Locked, dark, dead silent. Well, not that usually it was noisy, but not this quiet either. Usually someone could hear typing or her toned-down voice as she spoke in her recorder. He sighed. It was weird to come in the lab and not find her there.

Looking away he headed to another office nearby. Now, _that_ felt weird. That particular office was _never_ dark and silent, maybe only at night. There were always lights on and music, sometimes soft music, other times not so soft. But it was the only office that was always… cheerful. Angela always took good care of her office, making it look more comfortable and bright. Her paintings used to be on the wall, her sculptures… he looked through the glass walls and could see that they were gone. In Brennan's office nothing had been moved, but this one was different. Apparently she brought with her in Paris all of her things. Brennan apparently had nothing really personal in there, but of course Angela had.

He had to smile every time he thought about the two best friends, different in so many ways but still close to each other, except some minor falling-outs during the years, always resolved. He remembered the last one very well, that had hurt Brennan deeply. He knew that she was not cold, he _knew_, almost like Booth knew. He knew, he could see it in her eyes when he had talked to her later that day, he could see that she cared, a lot. She just didn't show it, hiding it under her layers of rationality and science. He knew Angela knew too, but she had forgotten about it for a while. And the fact that Brennan thought that Angela, of all people, couldn't see that had hurt her a lot. But luckily that time he was able to convince Brennan to forgo her rationality for a moment and humor her friend.

He passed through Hodgins' domain too, and like the previous two, it was dark and silent. He was happy that at least they were together, happy. The team had fallen apart, he hoped with all he had that it would not be permanent and that that weird family would come back together again, sooner or later. Because they were his own weird family too and he felt very lonely without them.

"Doctor Sweets!" a voice pulled him out of his reverie and he quickly turned, surprised that someone would even know him there anymore. A little smile formed on his face as he realized who the person was.

"Doctor Saroyan! I'm glad to see you" he greeted her, walking up to meet her. He had almost forgotten about her. He had forgotten that she had been left here in DC just like him.

"I'm happy and surprised to see you here! I haven't seen you here since they all left" she said smiling and shaking his hand.

"I was just taking a walk around here… I was feeling…"

"…nostalgic?" she interrupted him "Yeah, me too." she nodded with a sad smile.

"It has to be really weird to be around here without them" he said.

Cam sighed dramatically. "You have no idea! I'm used to be a circus ringmaster! And now? Everyone is calm, behaving well, no dramas…"

"Isn't it a good thing?" he smiled at the usual sense of humor of the pathologist.

"Usually? Yes… but right now I really wish something happened! You know? Hodgins trying to blow up the lab, Seeley shooting someone, Dr. Brennan… " she trailed off, trying to find something crazy that Brennan would do, but nothing "Well, she always behaved way too good, the others did enough for her too!" she laughed.

"I can imagine that! Hodgins, mostly." he agreed

"Plus, I _really_ would like some flesh!" she continued.

Sweets looked at her shocked, not understanding what _that_ had to do with anything

"Not one murder case in more than three months? I'm running out of corpses, Sweets!" she winked.

"I saw Clark on the platform" he told her.

"Yeah, I don't know if we'll ever work with the FBI until Booth and Brennan come back, I couldn't find anyone who wanted to take their jobs. Too much pressure to live up to, I guess" she said sighing "But I still need someone to go on with Dr. Brennan's job of identifying the remains from Limbo, that was our mission in the first place. But that means that I'm stuck with paperwork almost all day. Boring, let me say!" she complained. "And what about you? What have you been doing?"

"Just working at my practice with other FBI agents as usual. Not nearly as interesting as Booth and Brennan" he laughed

"That I can imagine!" Cam joined him in his laugh."At least I have Michelle for a bit of normality. And… Paul."

"Paul? You're still seeing him?"

"Yes, I am, I find myself very happy with him." she smiled.

"Doctor Saroyan, you're blushing!" Sweets laughed.

She blushed even more and noticed his sad eyes, she could see he was happy for her but she knew why he had sad eyes. For more than one reason actually. Seeley had told her once about the whole "baby duck" thing. She could understand why he was missing them all so much. Well, one person more than anyone else, but he sure missed his duck parents too. Well, she could be his adoptive duck mom until they got back…

"Have you heard from Daisy?" she asked carefully. His smile faded a little.

"Yes, she emails me sometimes, she tells me everything is ok and Dr. B. is fine too." he sighed and they stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"Do you think they'll ever come back?" he asked after a while, voicing his deepest fear. "Not Daisy I mean… Booth and Brennan, Angela and Hodgins… will they come back?"

"Yes, they will, they love their jobs, they wouldn't leave for good" Cam reassured him, although she wasn't very sure about her words herself.

"But everything will be different" he said quietly.

"Everything already is different, everything was already different even before they left."

"Yeah…" he sighed, thinking about Booth and Brennan's last case and how they felt tense and awkward around each other.

"Will they ever be the same? Will _this_ ever be the same?" he asked again, pointing at them and at the whole lab.

"You are the psychologist, Dr. Sweets" she said smiling "You tell me."

"I don't know." he admitted "Everything changed."

"Everything changes. We just have to try and adapt to the change" she nodded. "I'm sure you heard Brennan's "entropy" speech a few times. She likes to give that." she laughed softly.

"Oh yes, quite a few times." he snorted "I _really _hate entropy."

"So do I, Baby Duck, so do I." Cam said tapping him on the shoulder.

His eyes widened "What did you just call me?"

"I…what? Nothing… I thought that… nothing, never mind!" she stuttered, fleeing to her office, one shocked Sweets behind her heels.

When was Seeley Booth coming back again? Because when he did she was going to kill him for drumming that nickname into her head.

**B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&BB&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B**

***phew* What do you think about it? I'm actually a little nervous because it's the first time that I write anyone else other that B&B, the first time that B&B aren't even there! Feels weird! But I had this idea of our poor Baby Duck left alone in DC and then I remembered that Cam was still there too! ;) Let me know, feedback is really really important! :)**

**By the way, I just realized that this is my 10****th**** story! YAY! :D**


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